"I picked it out my senior year, and it represents the seven days of the week," said the 6-foot-6, 295-pound prodigy from Monroe, Ga., who had been No. 74 up until that point.

"Seven days of hard training. Seven days of being able to make great decisions for myself. If I want to keep playing this sport, I need to make great decisions for myself, Monday through Sunday. Stay out of trouble, focus on my classes and football at the same time."

It is Tuitt's sheer speed and physical size -- and yes, he does look like he could eat one of the freshman cornerbacks -- that plopped him on the Irish depth chart on the first day of fall camp, two weeks ago.

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It's what's inside of that intimidating frame that is coaxing him up it. Two weeks before the season opener with South Florida, Tuitt and bookend phenom defensive end Aaron Lynch are taking reps with the second-team defense.

making the right kind of progress for us, (but) we're keeping it in perspective."

That Tuitt, Lynch and the rest of the most vaunted collection of young defensive talent at ND in more than a decade are also keeping it in perspective is why Kelly hasn't had to worry about team chemistry problems.

For Tuitt, humility comes naturally.

"My mom raised me to always think about somebody else before myself," Tuitt said. "We did a lot of (work with) the homeless. Knowing I was blessed (with the) ability and size to become a better football player, I'll be able to use that to help other people that need help."

For now Tuitt is helping himself by ridding himself of high school habits -- jumping out of his gap, playing outside the scheme -- things he could overcome with his physical presence at Monroe Area High School.

The toughest adjustment, though, may have come in the classroom.

"He's capable of being a strong student," Kelly said. "He's gained confidence in the classroom this summer, and I think that was huge for him, coming from a high school that normally doesn't predict to Notre Dame.

"He's done very well there, which gave him the confidence to go play football."

Now it's about pacing and consistency and not getting caught up in the extreme expectations from a fan base percolating with them around him.

"We're not out here to be superstars the first time we come out on the field," Tuitt said. "Off the field, we have a lot of dreams. Right now, the first dream is coming out on the football field on (Sept. 3) against the University of South Florida and running out of that tunnel.

"Together."

QB decision near

Sometime this weekend, Kelly will likely know whether senior Dayne Crist or sophomore Tommy Rees will be his No. 1 quarterback for the Sept. 3 season opener with South Florida.

He plans on letting the rest of the college football world know on Tuesday, the day of his next meeting with the media.

"We were doing a production chart last night for both quarterbacks," Kelly said. "And the deeper we dug on the numbers, the cloudier it became.

"We're going to get into subjective things now as we move forward, because the numbers are so equal."

Personnel matters

[square]ºBackup tight end Jake Golic suffered a broken arm in practice Thursday, underwent surgery Friday and managed to scoop Kelly on delivering the news by posting his condition on his Twitter account hours before Kelly's press conference.

The post has since been untweeted.

Golic, Kelly said, had a plate inserted during the surgery to help healing and that the 6-4, 245-pound junior is expected to miss six weeks.

"We weren't going to say anything until we talked to his family," Kelly said, "but he tweeted it, so ... that's my life -- go up and read the tweets and find out what I don't know."

[square]ºThe youth movement experiment in the return game is apparently over.

When asked Friday who would be returning punts, Kelly chirped "Theo Riddick."